How to address a cover letter comes down to an order of preference: use the hiring manager's name if you can confirm it, then the title of the person the job reports to, then the team, and only then "Dear Hiring Manager". Each of those is acceptable. What US career guidance rules out is the faceless option: CareerOneStop, the career site sponsored by the US Department of Labor, says not to address a letter to "a business, a department, or 'To Whom It May Concern.'" Below is a decision table with the exact greeting for each situation, a short method for finding a name without guessing, the header block that sits above the greeting, and the first line that follows it.
The decision table: which greeting to use
Find the first row that matches what you know. Names and titles are invented samples.
| What you know | Greeting to use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The hiring manager's name and how they are addressed | Dear Ms. Okafor: | The standard business letter form, title plus family name |
| The name, but not their gender or preferred title | Dear Sam Okafor: | Purdue OWL accepts the full name when you cannot determine gender |
| The name, and the person holds a doctorate they use at work | Dear Dr. Okafor: | Use the title they use on the company site or their profile |
| Only a recruiter's name (they messaged you, or the posting lists them) | Dear Priya Shah: | The recruiter reads the letter first, so writing to them is accurate |
| The title the role reports to, from the posting | Dear Director of Partnerships: | CareerOneStop suggests the recipient's job title when you lack a name |
| Only the team or function | Dear Analytics Hiring Manager: | A role, not a department, so it stays within CareerOneStop's advice |
| An academic, nonprofit or public sector panel | Dear Search Committee: | CareerOneStop and Capella University's career center both name it |
| Nothing at all | Dear Hiring Manager: | The University of Michigan alumni guide says it "will suffice" |
| A UK employer and no name | Dear Sir or Madam | The UK National Careers Service allows it, paired with "Yours faithfully" |
Two rows deserve a note. "Dear Sir or Madam" is normal British practice: the National Careers Service says that if you cannot find a name "you can start your letter with 'Dear Sir or Madam'". US career centers go the other way. Capella University's career center lists both "Dear Sir or Madam" and "To Whom it May Concern" as greetings to avoid. Write to the convention of the country where the job is.
The recruiter row is a judgment call. If a recruiter contacted you about the role, they are the person who will open your application, and addressing them by name is both polite and true. If the posting names a recruiter only in a line about accommodations or pay questions, the hiring manager or the reports-to title is still the better target.
The order to try: a name, a title, a team
A name first. The University of Michigan alumni association's cover letter guide suggests using "the name of the person in charge of the unit or department/name of the hiring manager", and says that including it "signals the seriousness of intent." CareerOneStop says the same in fewer words: "Address the letter to a specific person whenever possible."
Then a title. When you cannot confirm a name, CareerOneStop's fallback is "the job title of the recipient (Maintenance Supervisor, Office Manager), or perhaps 'Human Resources' or 'Search Committee.'" The most useful title is the one the job reports to, because that person usually makes the decision. "Dear Head of Customer Success:" tells the reader you read the posting closely enough to know where the role sits.
Then a team, phrased as a person. If all you know is the function, write to the role that hires for it: "Dear Analytics Hiring Manager:" or "Dear Nursing Recruitment Team:". This avoids the "department" form CareerOneStop warns against ("Dear Analytics Department") while still being specific.
Last, "Dear Hiring Manager." It is the plain default, not an error. The Michigan guide uses exactly that phrase as its fallback.
How to find the hiring manager's name
Start with the posting itself, because it sometimes tells you who you would report to. On 18 October 2026 we read the first five postings on each of ten employers' Greenhouse job boards (Airbnb, Cloudflare, Discord, Dropbox, Figma, Instacart, Lyft, Reddit, Robinhood and Stripe), 50 postings in all, through the public Greenhouse job board API.
| What the posting said | Postings |
|---|---|
| Stated the title the role reports to | 10 |
| ...of which gave a person's name | 0 |
| No reporting line at all | 40 |
The reporting lines were titles such as "This role reports to the Senior Engineering Manager of Growth" at Discord and "Reporting to the Director of 3rd Party Partnerships" at Reddit. None named the person. So the posting can give you a title for your greeting about one time in five, and a name almost never. The rest is research, in this order:
- Read the posting for a reporting line. Search the page for "reports to" and "reporting to". If you find one, you already have a good title greeting, and a search term for the next steps.
- Check the company's own site. The Michigan guide points to "the company's website or directory". The National Careers Service suggests looking for "the head of the department, head of human resources or a recruitment manager." Team, leadership and press pages often list them.
- Search LinkedIn for the title at the company. Search the company name with the reporting title from step 1. Check that the person's current role is at that company and on that team, not a past one.
- Ask someone. Purdue's Online Writing Lab suggests "calling the company or speaking with employees from the company." Capella suggests asking your connections. A friend at the company can usually tell you in one message.
- Use the recruiter who contacted you. If a recruiter reached out, their name is confirmed and they are a fair recipient.
Use a name only when it passes all three of these checks. If it fails any of them, fall back to the title.
| Check | Pass |
|---|---|
| Two independent places agree (the company site and a profile, say) | The person really holds that title |
| Their current role is the team in the posting | You have the hiring manager, not a peer |
| You know the spelling and, if you use one, the courtesy title | No avoidable mistake in the first line |
A wrong name costs more than a title, because it shows the guess. Give the search about ten minutes per application you care about; for the rest, a title greeting is fine.
Greetings that work, and ones to drop
| Greeting | Use it? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Ms. Okafor: | Yes | When you know she uses Ms. |
| Dear Mr. Okafor: | Yes | Only when you know he uses it |
| Dear Sam Okafor: | Yes | Best when gender or title is unclear |
| Dear Sam: | Sometimes | Purdue accepts a first name only if you know the person and normally use it |
| Dear Director of Partnerships: | Yes | Title greeting, specific and accurate |
| Dear Hiring Manager: | Yes | The default when you know nothing |
| Dear Hiring Team: | Yes | Fine for a form or an email to a shared inbox |
| Dear Sir or Madam | UK only | Pair with "Yours faithfully" |
| To Whom It May Concern | No | CareerOneStop advises against it |
| "Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen" | No | Assumes the reader's gender |
| Dear Mrs. Okafor | Only if she uses it | Do not guess a courtesy title |
| Hi, Hey, Hello there | No | Too casual for a letter that may be forwarded |
Colon or comma. Purdue OWL says to put a colon after a business letter salutation, "never a comma." CareerOneStop's own cover letter template ends "Dear Ms./Mr. [Hiring Manager's Name]," with a comma, and the Michigan guide's sample uses a colon. Both are in use in the US. The colon is the more formal choice; pick one and use the same style throughout.
Spell the name exactly as the person does. Copy it from their profile or the company page rather than typing it from memory, including accents and hyphens.
The first line after the greeting
Once the greeting is settled, the first sentence carries the letter. CareerOneStop says to use the first paragraph "to explain who you are and your reason for writing, including how you found out about the position." The Michigan guide adds: "If you heard of the position via a professional connection, check with them and ask if you can mention them here."
That gives every opening the same three parts: the exact job title, how you found it, and one specific reason. Five samples, written for this post:
- From the posting: "I am applying for the Operations Analyst role on your fulfillment team, which I found on your careers page, because I spent the last two years cutting pick errors in a warehouse your size."
- With a referral: "Dana Lee on your platform team suggested I apply for the Site Reliability Engineer opening, and she mentioned you are moving the last services off virtual machines this year."
- After recruiter outreach: "Thank you for reaching out about the Senior Accountant role; the month-end close work you described is what I have done for four years at a firm of 200 people."
- After a career fair: "We spoke at the State University career fair on October 9 about the Associate Product Manager program, and your point about shipping in the first month stayed with me."
- Cold, with no posting: "I am writing to ask whether your clinic expects to hire a bilingual front desk coordinator this winter; I have three years of scheduling experience in a practice like yours."
Skip "My name is..." as an opener. Your name is already at the top of the page and at the bottom of the letter. For the rest of the letter, our guide to writing a cover letter walks through each paragraph, and cover letter examples has twelve full samples.
The header block
The cover letter header is the block above the greeting. CareerOneStop's template puts it in this order:
Jordan Rivera
(555) 010-0144
jordan.rivera@example.com
October 18, 2026
Sam Okafor
Director of Partnerships
Harbor Lane Foods
100 Example Street
Springfield, IL 62701
Dear Ms. Okafor:
All of it is sample data. A few rules from the sources:
- Your details first. CareerOneStop lists "the date, your name, your phone number and email address", and suggests adding your city "if it's relevant for the job", for instance a hybrid role where the employer may want to know you live locally. Its list does not include a street address.
- Write the date out. Purdue OWL says to write out the month, day and year, using the American format (its example is "June 11, 2001") when writing to US companies.
- The recipient block is optional when you have no name. If you are writing to "Hiring Manager", list the company name and city, or leave the block out. An empty "Name, Title" placeholder looks worse than nothing.
- Match your resume. The Michigan guide says to "always match your resume's paper and font style to your cover letter." Using the same header design on both makes the pair look deliberate.
Addressing a letter in an online form
Many letters now travel through an application form, and the form changes what the greeting and header should do.
| How the form takes the letter | Greeting | Header block |
|---|---|---|
| File upload | Your best greeting from the table above | Keep it; the file may be printed or forwarded |
| Text box for the letter | Keep the greeting | Drop it; the form already holds your contact details |
| General "additional information" box | A short greeting or none | Drop it |
| Email to a named person | Dear Ms. Okafor, | Drop it; put your contact details under your name |
| Email to a shared inbox | Dear Hiring Team, | Drop it |
When a posting runs on an applicant tracking system and names nobody, "Dear Hiring Manager:" or the reports-to title is normal, and nobody expects more. The common mistake with uploaded letters is a different one: reusing a letter and leaving the last company's name in the greeting or the first line. Read the first three lines of every file before you upload it. Our post on how to write a cover letter has counts of how often Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever forms ask for a letter, and in what shape.
If you use ApplyEze, it writes a cover letter when the form asks for one, so the company and role in the letter change with each application. Use a dry run first to read the greeting, since it goes out under your name.
The end of the letter follows the same logic as the start. Our guide to ending a cover letter covers closing lines by situation and which sign-off pairs with which greeting.